White House gate-crashers to star in reality show

Virginia socialites Tareq and Michele Salahi, who gate-crashed the White House State Dinner for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, will be featured in a reality show.

The Salahis are poised to take centre stage once again as the most visible members of the upcoming Bravo series The Real Housewives of D.C, The Daily Beast news website reported.

"After one of the most visible reality-TV series auditions in history ? yes, Bravo cameras were on hand as the Salahis arrived for that ill-fated White House event ? the couple has now been fully embraced as the focal point of the series, expected to premiere in July," it said.

The gate-crashing incident on November 24 last year during President Barack Obama's first state dinner, hosted in honour of Prime Minister Singh, cost White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers her job.

The Salahis were even subpoenaed by a Congressional Committee.

The Secret Service, which carried out an investigation into the episode, closed it without disclosing what the result of its probe was.

"The Salahis are contractually prohibited from talking about the show, but The Daily Beast has learnt they've already shot all 12 episodes of the premiere season. And early next month at a studio in Washington, DC they'll participate in what's known as the 'green screen shoot'," the report said.

"That's when video will be taken of cast members that's then used to produce the glitzy opening sequence of the show."

The Daily Beast reported that Bravo wanted to keep the Salahis' participation under wraps until it could orchestrate its coordinated publicity push via its fellow NBC/Universal outlets like 'Access Hollywood' and the 'Today' show.

Sources close to the couple say the public got the wrong impression of the Salahis, and that the "misunderstanding" about the White House invitation has turned their lives upside down.

"They've now engaged prominent literary agent Sharlene Martin and they plan to try to set the record straight in an upcoming tell-all book," the report said.

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